What Astronauts and Italian Piazzas Can Teach Us About Human Connection

What do astronauts, military teams and Italian piazzas have in common?

That was the question leadership and team dynamics expert Leslie DeChurch explored at the Rocco Forte Hotels 2026 Meetings & Events Showcase at Verdura Resort in Sicily.

During her keynote and thinktank sessions, DeChurch shared insights into the surprising overlap between high-performing teams and the social fabric of Italian life, arguing that connection, community and shared rituals are just as critical to performance as diet, exercise or self-improvement.

Drawing on more than 25 years of research with organisations including NASA and military and medical teams, DeChurch has studied what makes teams thrive under pressure. Alongside that work, she immersed herself in Italian culture, eventually realising the two worlds were deeply connected.

“What I realised during this journey is that these two paths ultimately lead to the same place,” she explained. “A lot of the science and the insights that come out of NASA’s high consequence mission to Mars research are things that the Italians already figured out.”

DeChurch’s argument is rooted in something surprisingly simple: human beings function better when they feel connected to one another, a principle that event planners understand more instinctively than most.

She returned repeatedly to the idea of the Italian piazza, not simply as an architectural feature, but as a form of social infrastructure. The open squares found at the centre of Italian towns have, for centuries, provided spaces for gathering, conversation, celebration and shared rituals.

“The architecture is beautiful, but it is also functional,” she said. “It’s not just a pretty space. It’s so important in sustaining the sense of community.”

In an era shaped by hybrid working and communication through screens, DeChurch believes we may be overlooking something fundamental about wellbeing and performance. She also pointed to an “epidemic of loneliness” as one of the defining and least acknowledged challenges we face today.

“When we think about wellness, we tend to focus on the self, eating, exercising, by ourselves. But if we start with the social side, the rest often follows,” she reflected.

In Sicily, where Verdura Resort sits close to the hilltop town of Caltabellotta, an emerging Blue Zone, these ideas feel particularly resonant. Alongside healthy diets and active lifestyles, such communities are often characterised by strong social bonds, multi-generational relationships and a deep sense of belonging.

Perhaps the most striking part of her message was that connection is not simply a ‘nice to have’ addition to wellbeing or workplace culture, but something foundational to how people think, collaborate and perform.

At Verdura Resort, where many of the showcase experiences revolved around the rituals DeChurch described, from family-style communal dining and local immersion to outdoor activities designed around movement and interaction, her message felt especially meaningful.

High-performing teams, she argued, are built on trust, communication, shared rituals and emotional connection, qualities that are increasingly difficult to sustain in fragmented digital environments.

That means, more than ever, companies need to intentionally create modern-day equivalents of the Italian piazza – spaces and events where teams can gather, connect and build community.

Explore how Italian hospitality, human connection and a strong sense of place sit at the heart of Rocco Forte Hotels’ meetings and events offering: Rocco Forte Hotels Meetings & Events